Race for speaker

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected today to make yet another attempt to elect a speaker.

Gary Palmer’s candidacy isn’t just a passing thought. The Representative from Alabama’s 6th Congressional District has released his list of “Palmer’s Principles.” Here they are:

• Fund the government on time with all single subject appropriations bills passing the House by June 30.
• Unite the Republican Conference before going to the House floor
• Real spending cuts, NOT budget gimmicks
• No short-term continuing resolutions
• Enforce a true 72-hour rule allowing members and the American people time to review legislation
• Unite the Republican Conference before going to the House floor

Tech Hub, Alabama

Birmingham’s tech industry took a step toward winning some free money on Monday.

AL.com’s William Thornton reports that the U.S. Department of Commerce named 31 what they’re calling federal Tech Hubs, and Birmingham is one. Southern Research took the lead in the application with help from UAB, the City of Birmingham and more than 20 other institutions.

Areas were selected based on their potential as well as their current assets. The hub seeks to, quote, “shorten the drug-development pipeline and deliver affordable drugs, vaccines and diagnostics that treat a diverse global patient population.”

Next up is a second round that will narrow the field down to 5-10 hubs. Those hubs could draw funding in the neighborhood of $75 million to fund biotechnology research.

Changing schools

A surprise late-season transfer could have some impact on the high school football season just as teams are about to gear up for the playoffs.

AL.com’s Ben Thomas and Dennis Victory report that Jared Smith, a four-star defensive end for the Class of 2025, is transferring from Spain Park to rival Thompson, according to the player’s mom.

Smith’s coach at Spain Park said the move has caught him by surprise, and the coach at Thompson said the move is news to him.

Thompson is ranked second in Class 7A, has won four straight state titles, and beat Spain Park 55-14 last month.

Smith, at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, also plays basketball.

AHSAA rules state that after a student transfers to another school, as long as everything else is in order academically, he or she may begin playing sports two days after making the move.

Quiz results

Here’s how readers did on yesterday’s Week-In-Review quiz:

Which of these Alabama species was NOT moved to the “extinct” list recently by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?

• Watercress darter (CORRECT) 29%
• Southern acornshell 29%
• Bachman’s warbler 23%
• Turgid-blossom pearly mussel 19%

Daphne Search and Rescue and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency descended on the Alabama River recently after what incident took place?

• A tugboat capsized (CORRECT) 68%
• A brawl broke out between passengers aboard two pontoon boats. 17%
• Two powerboats collided during testing before a race 14%
• Nine Atlanta Braves reportedly fell out of a boat and couldn’t hit the water. 1%

Who was Alabama’s first Black woman astronaut?

• Mae Jemison (CORRECT) 66%
• Jessica Watkins 20%
• Armestine Mullins Graham 11%
• Florida Evans 3%

A NASA team in Huntsville recently won the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal for work on what?

• Deflecting a large asteroid. 81%
• Establishing a re-education program for people working on the Artemis program who don’t believe the Apollo program ever reached the moon. 11%
• Studying whether Venus’s atmosphere is a feasible environment for orbiting colonies. 5%
• Building an alien-friendly wing on the International Space Station. 2%

A Brighton man recently called police for help jumping off his car, and the police found:

• he was wanted for attempted murder. (CORRECT) 63%
• his car had been stolen from a Jefferson County commissioner. 32%
• he was the last living World War I veteran. 3%
• he was a former Jefferson County commissioner who had escaped from prison. 2%

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